Images: Red Sprite Lightning Revealed in Stunning Photos

Searching for Red Sprites

The elusive red lightning called sprites last less than a second. They form above the tops of thunderclouds, when lightning bolts trigger a burst of red light in electrically charged particles.

Because the storms that birth sprites also hide them from view, few sprites are seen from the ground. To better understand the phenomenon, scientists are hunting red sprites from the air.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks, graduate student Jason Ahrns captured stunning images of red sprites during several flights over the Midwest during the 2013 summer aboard the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Gulfstream V research plane.

Sprite

High-speed video and models suggest sprites are caused by plasma irregularities in the ionosphere, the layer above the lower atmosphere.

Sprite formation

Credit: H. H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen

This is a photograph of five plasma irregularities responsible for sprite initiation.

Sprite event

Credit: H. H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen

This is a sequence of black and white images of sprite initiation on July 20, 2012.

Sprite Seen by Astronauts

Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Red sprites, or seemingly mystical electrical flashes in the atmosphere, are connected to thunderstorms and lightning. This red sprite was captured from astronauts aboard the International Space Station traveling southeast from central Myanmar to north of Malaysia on April 30, 2012.

Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Becky Oskin, Contributing Writer
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Searching for Red Sprites

Credit: Jason Ahrns

The elusive red lightning called sprites last less than a second. They form above the tops of thunderclouds, when lightning bolts trigger a burst of red light in electrically charged particles.

Because the storms that birth sprites also hide them from view, few sprites are seen from the ground. To better understand the phenomenon, scientists are hunting red sprites from the air.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks, graduate student Jason Ahrns captured stunning images of red sprites during several flights over the Midwest during the 2013 summer aboard the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Gulfstream V research plane.

Sprite

High-speed video and models suggest sprites are caused by plasma irregularities in the ionosphere, the layer above the lower atmosphere.

Sprite formation

Credit: H. H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen

This is a photograph of five plasma irregularities responsible for sprite initiation.

Sprite event

Credit: H. H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen

This is a sequence of black and white images of sprite initiation on July 20, 2012.

Sprite Seen by Astronauts

Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Red sprites, or seemingly mystical electrical flashes in the atmosphere, are connected to thunderstorms and lightning. This red sprite was captured from astronauts aboard the International Space Station traveling southeast from central Myanmar to north of Malaysia on April 30, 2012.